The free air tickets phishing scam has now hit private airline operator Jet Airways as well. The airline took to Twitter to alert its customers that they are not offering any official contest/giveaway and have advised them to exercise caution. The fake free air tickets scheme has gone viral on WhatsApp and Facebook with a similar looking url of the original Jet Airways site https://www.xn-jetarways-ypb.com. Only on closer look does it become clear that the url does not have the alphabet ”i’ but can manage to fool even the most discernible and tech savvy users to click the link.

#FakeAlert There’s a fake link being circulated regarding ticket giveaways for our 25th Anniversary. This is not an official contest/giveaway and we advise caution. Genuine contests & giveaways are hosted only on our verified social media accounts, indicated with a blue tick. pic.twitter.com/NvJrFaq3aL

The airline was also alerted by a French vigilante hacker who uses the moniker Elliot Alderson on Twitter. Alderson has been in news in the past for pointing out security loopholes in UIDAI’s Aadhaar application and more recently The Reserve Bank of India. After Jet Airways replied to Alderson with their clarification, he posted another tweet asking the airline on what steps they have planned to take down the site.

Have you planned to take down this page? It’s hosted on an @awscloud server

BOOM spoke to Jet Airways and have sought their comments on steps taken by them to disable the fake url. We will update the story when we hear from them.

We also spoke to Jiten Jain who works in the area of cyber security on the dangers of clicking on such links. Jain points out that such phishing sites may try to steal your account password or other confidential information by tricking you into believing you are on a legitimate website. “The best way to protect yourself from such scams are to avoid falling for such hoaxes and not clicking on any such links that promise freebies. There are no free lunches in life,” said Jain to BOOM.

Jain also said that such phishing sites and their masterminds may have multiple goals. Some of them may just want you to click on advertisements and help them earn revenue. While others may trick you in clicking some application that may install a malware on your device. Like in the case of the fake Jet Airways url, the attempt may also be to trick its victims to fill some forms to steal their credentials.

This is not the first time that fake messages claiming to provide free air tickets have gone viral. BOOM had busted similar messages in the case of Air Asia and Emirates on January 15, 2018.

Such fake messages are also not limited to just India. US-based Snopes.com in February 2016 had reported on several viral promotions on social media that claim to give away free tickets or spending money on Facebook users who share and like a page.